


Jack and The 'Bean' Stock

by CardboarianNights



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: 100 percent wholesome content, Fluff, Gen, Lena and Jesse are totally their adult chrildren, M/M, No Smut, Reaperbeans, Short Story, Slice of Life, Swearing, don't you love how cute reaperbeans are?, that's why it's rated 'M' now, we're comfortable together but does he love me love me???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2018-09-24 23:31:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9791939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CardboarianNights/pseuds/CardboarianNights
Summary: Jack Morrison has to put up with a lot of shit when his significant other, Gabriel Reyes, is out on missions for the new Overwatch and he gets stuck babysitting the little semi-sentient black bean bags that fall off his... whatever Gabe is to him.A collection of many little fluffy short stories involving reaperbeans!





	1. Beans Seeing You

**Author's Note:**

> WE GOT FANART FOLKS!
> 
> https://ducttapeart.tumblr.com/post/158654014274/a-bunch-of-doodles-i-decided-to-color-after
> 
> Edit: Upped the rating cause it has swears in it. No mature content will be added! Will still be pure and wholesome!

Jack was impossibly tired as he slumped in his chair with a tray of food, mostly cups of fruit and finger foods like carrot sticks, alone in the automated mess hall at four in the morning. He was in his plain black PJs and one of Gabriel's hoodies as he let the two, semi-sentient black bean bags with what seemed to be white face to mimic the mask of the man they roll off of occasionally, nicknamed ‘Reaperbeans’ by Hana and Lucio. The two little assholes happily slide down his arms from their respective spots curled up on either side of his neck and climbed onto the tray to get at the treats Jack got for them. Gabriel and Winston weren't sure why the blobs could exist independently from Gabriel but they were troublemakers with a capital ‘T’ when Gabriel wasn't around for the rest of the Overwatch agents to drop them back into his composition. 

“Jack!” One of them squeaked in a tiny little voice to get the tired old man’s attention as he tried to fall asleep sitting up. Clearly the food offerings weren't enough to occupy this one needy little bean’s attention while the other one happily chipped away at a celery stick through what he guessed was its ‘mouth’ in the mask. 

“Whaaaat?” Jack groaned, wanting so badly for Gabriel to come back to the base so he could jam this particular bean down his throat for being an asshole. He was so damn tired and wanted to sleep. 

“Die!” It hissed back defiantly at him, round eye holes narrowed into a glare that would be adorable if Jack didn't want to put it through a meat grinder. 

The beans had a very limited vocabulary, and it usually consisted of them saying his name (‘Jack’) and ‘die’. You could see how it manages to get old very quickly regardless of how cute they are.

Jack picked it up and chucked it to another table nearby, it squeaking loudly on impact like a dog chew toy - Something that cheered Jack right up from hearing as the bean struggled to roll itself over. The toss wasn't enough to harm the bean and even if Jack were to try to subject it to torture Gabriel probably wouldn't mind considering the man himself has stomped on them many times to express his annoyance with his ‘shedding’ and reabsorbed them through his boots after said acts. It was more fun to inconvenience the annoying beans when they came around cause no one liked to hear the sounds of the little shits screaming like children being strangled to death to do anything worse to them. The beans were certainly individuals with a minor hive mind effect when they initially fall off of Gabriel but do their own thing like toddlers did and Gabriel was no wiser to their adventures when they reintegrate into him either. So, technically you COULD get away with torturing Reaperbeans but there was no way someone wouldn't come running once they heard one of them scream.

The bean chewing on the celery stick was oblivious to its sibling’s distraught, the soft, rhythmic, crunching noises were oddly relaxing to listen to for Jack but the bean on the table refused to take Jack’s shit quietly when it finally managed to sit up.

“JACK!!!” It yelled in all of its tiny fury.

“Something got you bothered, Shitsqueak?” Jack grinned in amusement as he placed an elbow on the table to prop up the side of his face. It was times like this that reminded him of all the shitty pranks he pulled on Gabriel during SEP and that Gabe was kind of getting back at him after all of these years with the beans being so fixated on bugging him. 

“Die! Die die DIE!!!” The bean passionately shot back with all of the intimidation of a two-year old who was babbling nonsense during a tantrum.

“You don’t say?” He responded in amusement to the one-sided conversation before looking down at the little bean that was actually behaving. The little one was struggling with trying to pull the last bit of the celery stick that flipped over onto its side with its teeny nubby ‘arms’ and made little grunting noises as it exerted itself. Jack felt himself melt at how cute the little guy was trying and reached down with a finger to pluck up the bit between his fingers.

“Jack!” The bean happily squeaked up at him, the eye holes completely closed in blissful happiness before resuming to crunch on the bit with Jack’s help. This was the only reason Jack tolerated the beans existing was for moments like this when it was rewarding to interact with them-

“DIE!!!” 

-Then there were asshole beans, like the one banished to the other table, who lived their short lives only to spite others and make things difficult, especially for Jack, who was always saddled with the attention of the beans in general. 

It was kind of understandable that the beans would want to be around Jack since he was Gabriel’s significant other and had been since pretty much for several decades even when they thought each other dead. They never wanted to learn anyone else’s name, not even Gabriel’s, and regardless of how dickish their behavior could get, they always wanted to nap with him, if they let him sleep at all. That kind of behavior ALWAYS got them squished mercilessly when Gabriel was around since they couldn’t scream when being promptly reabsorbed from the contact but Gabriel sometimes would let the nicer ones hang around, especially if they were helping Jack to relax. It was kind of the reason why they never really worked to find a ‘cure’ for the shedding since it was easy just to drop the bean onto Gabriel’s shoulder and it would melt right back into his being. The sheddings also only used a small amount of nanites so it wasn’t like Gabriel was less effective in battle or anything because of the beans existence.

“Hey! You can tell me to ‘die’ all you want, shithead, but you’re not allowed to pick on your siblings! Understand?” Jack shouted back at the misbehaving bean, startling the banished bean. They were all like that, easily startled by loud noises or Jack putting his foot down to rein in the beans bad behavior - they were simple-minded, and selfish little shitholes but they all honestly wanted affection deep down in whatever made up their programming.

“J-Jack...?” The banished bean whimpered softly, its face warped to look hurt and probably did genuinely feel that way but unable to cry since they don't have functioning tear glands. 

Or any functional organs for that manner either, disturbingly enough. Didn’t stop them from enjoying snacks though.

“I’m giving you a ten minute time out so you think about what you did. I’ll consider bringing you back to the table if you behave, alright?” Jack crossed his arms over his chest as he brought down the hammer on the misbehaving bean, knowing full well they could understand him since he has punished many a Reaperbean in the past if Gabriel wasn’t around for him to shove them into the back of their master’s head. The banished bean hung its head and turned around before plopping over onto its front dramatically but didn’t whine or complain as it took its punishment. Very Gabriel-like indeed.

“Jack?” 

Jack’s eyes glanced down to see the little behaving bean had moved over to the fruit cup and was pulling at the lid that kept the sweeter treats at bay from its nubs. It looked up at him as it lightly tugged on the lid, making the cup move with each pull but not enough to knock it over, more to make it obvious what it wanted assistance with. Jack sighed softly and smiled as he reached for the cup, watching the bean retract its nubs from the plastic lid and pulled it off for him, setting the lid down on the table before resting the cup back down where it was. 

“Let’s see what Athena compiled for you guys today.” Jack chuckled in amusement as he brushed his index finger in the cup to push aside some of the fruit to see if anything good was hidden. “Okay, we got grapes, cantaloupe, pears… Ooh! Green apple slices! I’m sure you will want one of those.” He spoke happily, knowing that Gabe’s favorites applied to the beans as well and sour apples were up there as the perfect bribe treat to get the bad beans to behave if Gabriel was out on a long mission like now. Jack glanced over at the ‘banishment’ table and saw a little white face glancing back at him before it quickly turned away to press back into the surface like before when it got caught. So much for brooding for ten minutes and trying to guilt trip him.

“Jack!” The behaving bean’s eye sockets were wide open in excitement as Jack pulled a green apple slice from the cup, its little nubs held upwards to reach for the slice. He hands the slice to the bean, who happily starts munching on it, and hears a telling whine coming from the ‘banishment’ table that he promptly ignores as he pops a grape into his mouth.


	2. Good to Bean Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for the explosion of love on the first chapter, Everyone! I likely won't post a new short everyday but I did promise more cute bean stories!
> 
> This one is more Gabe/Jack centric! Enjoy!

“Hey. I’m back.” 

Jack turns around as Gabriel steps out from around the corner, both men coming face to face after three weeks apart. Gabriel had his hands tucked into a simple brown leather jacket, looking dead tired but still coming to the complete opposite side of the base to see him?

“Dorms are on the other half of the building, Dumbass.” Jack grumbled as he turned away from Gabriel. 

“Jack...?” A tiny voice whispered in his ear, just as tired as their master, it seemed. 

Three Reaperbeans were crowding up against his neck as he wore one of Gabriel’s hoodies with the hood up. The little bastards were sleeping so nicely until the biggest beanhead of them all had to track him down. Jack reached back through the hood of his hoodie and gently rubbed the head of the tired bean that woke up.

“Shh… I’ll do another lap if it will help you go back to sleep.” Jack murmured softly to the bean, feeling himself smile as he felt it rub back against his finger affectionately. “Are you still standing there, Gabe.” He sighed heavily as he refused to turn around, hoping the wraith would take a hint and go to his room to sleep if the Reaperbeans were this worn out by their master being around to affect them. If they were having trouble doing anything then Gabe was having trouble too.

“What? I can’t greet you after coming home?” Gabriel asked with a hint of annoyance as he took several steps forward until he was within one foot of Jack’s back.

“Oh my god, Gabe. What am I, a housewife?” Jack groaned as he brought a palm to his forehead. Seriously, couldn’t Gabe get the hint that he wanted his stupid ass to go to bed? Was it so hard for them to have some semblance of normalcy even with the Reaperbeans being around all the time?

“You’re a shit housewife, if that’s what you’re asking, but, I just had a feeling you wanted to see me, is all.” Gabriel responded, sounding way too tired to be healthy as he stepped forward and rested his forehead against Jack’s shoulder.

“Jack…” One of the beans whined softly, basically pleading for him to take some kind of action; likely the kind that results in all five of them (Gabe + 3 beans + Jack) under wonderfully warm blankets and drifting off together. 

URGH WHY DID THESE STUPID FUCKERS HAVE TO TWIST HIS PERSONALITY SO MUCH?!

“Jack, come on…” Gabriel grumbled in a sleepy manner as his arms wrapped loosely around Jack’s waist. “You’ll be doing at least five more laps before you’ll consider actually sleeping.”

“You don’t need a bed partner to fall asleep, Gabe.” Jack scoffed at how easily Gabe was able to read him and how much more comfortable it was to have him leaning against him like this. “Though… It does make it easier, doesn’t it?” He asked quietly and Gabriel hummed softly in agreement before the world began to warp away from them both.

The hallways all looked alike in Gibraltar when they sped through it together like this. It was like watching the world in fast forward when Gabriel pulled him into his form and they moved together in his wraith form. Jack remembered getting so sick when Gabriel used to do it to save his ass in battle when Gabriel rejoined the new Overwatch with him. It was like a child experiencing going for their first car or airplane ride and not understanding what was going on - his body struggling to figure out what whas ‘him’ and ‘how’ he was moving, all parts overwhelming him at once when he was dropped out of the nanite cloud and promptly threw up his guts right after. It was less ‘getting used to it’ and more ‘calmly letting his body process it all’ like when floating in water - you won’t drown if you stay calm and let buoyancy take over.

Or something like that. Whatever made him less woozy when he came out of the nanite cloud, the better it was.

Gabriel and Jack ended up in front of Jack’s door, a heavy sigh leaving Jack’s lips as he glanced over at the plastic storage bin to the left of his door that had several small fleece blankets folded over inside of it and the two snoozing Reaperbeans lying on top of the blankets. Shit. He totally forgot to check the ‘drop off’ basket after dinner to see if anyone else found a bean or two in the base.

Since Jack was pretty much the ‘focus’ of the beans, all members of Overwatch usually dropped off the beans they found wandering about in this ‘kitten box’ that Lucio and Torbjorn put together. Why those two? Noise and music were what drew wandering, curious toddlers/Reaperbeans to come investigate. Neither of the two minded having the beans around but sometimes the little brats just get too worked up and cry for ‘Jack’ that they have to be deposited into the kitten box. Apparently, only then will they relax and usually doze off until Jack or Gabriel picks them up.

Weirdos.

The beans that were in Jack’s hoodie were promptly absorbed during the ghosting back to the room but…

“Get off, Gabe.” Jack grumbled in annoyance, unable to bend over to scoop up the beans when Gabriel was practically falling asleep against him. Gabriel mumbled something under his breath before letting out a long yawn and nuzzling his nose against Jack’s shoulder. Just how hard was the mission that it managed to drain Gabriel this badly? Wasn’t the literal god of death suppose to not have stamina issues? He never had stamina issues back during SEP but his human advatar got damaged during the explosion, right? That plus the introduction of nanities…

Jack sighed and pressed his hand to the palm reader, making the door slide open. Gabriel took that time to dissipate into black smoke and let himself in, allowing Jack to tend to the beans as he pleased. Couldn’t he just go through the vents like he usually does when Jack has the door shut? He just had to be so ‘extra’ about everything in his life, huh?

“Jack…?”

A little voice brought Jack’s eyes back to the two beans that struggled to get up and he leaned over to scoop them both up.

“Yeah… I’m sorry for leaving you two alone the whole night.” Jack apologized quietly to the beans, not wanting Gabriel to get on his back for being sentimental towards the beans. He just honestly couldn’t help wanting to see them safe and happy if it was within his power. Gabriel meant the world to him even if Gabriel’s feelings towards him were vague and guarded.

Jack held the beans in his arms as he walked inside the room, pressing the button on the wall to close the door behind him and greeted by pitch darkness. He rolled his eyes as he leaned back against the door, knowing that going towards the bed meant the miasma taking the beans from him as Gabriel tried to pull himself back together. Overexertion meant that Gabriel was slower to get the nanites to obey his orders and it might be a while until he had enough strength to reform himself into a solid mass.

He glanced down at the beans in his arms, watching their little bodies expand and then retract as they slept peacefully. Jack lowered himself to the floor, agreeing with them in earnest that all the requirements for sleep had now been satisfied and felt his eyelids grow heavy as sleep beckoned him. As nice as it would be to crawl up and onto the bed, he didn’t want the beans to leave so soon after he just got done apologizing to them for neglect. They deserved some sort of compensation in the morning before he would feel alright with placing them back into Gabriel. Maybe pancake sticks with eggs in the center would be a good treat? Gabriel liked it from time to time so maybe he’ll get lucky tomorrow if the beans want it? Jack drifted off, his legs pulled to his chest and his head drooped forward with the Reaperbeans resting securely in his arms.

He really was too sentimental but now he was old on top of it - A bad combination in his mind.

\--

Jack felt like absolute shit when he woke up in the morning; all sore and stiff as he stretched out his cracking joints but oddly warm. He noticed the blanket over him before he felt a body pressed against his side and heard the soft, rhythmic breathing. In… Out… Jack felt a smile lift his lips as he glanced over to see Gabriel resting his head against Jack’s shoulder, a blanket wrapped around them both and a body pillow slipped in behind their backs for comfort. 

One glance downwards verified the two beans still nuzzled up to the hoodie and Jack for warmth - just like the big idiot resting next to him rather than sleeping in the bed. Angela was going to chew them both out when they would drag themselves to the medbay for pain medicine but it just might be worth it for moments like this. 

Maybe Jack wasn’t the only one getting sentimental in his old age...


	3. Let Me Bean With You

“You know…”

Jack glances up as Gabriel and him do video yoga exercises in the privacy of Gabriel’s much bigger room. It’s pretty much the only reason they go into there nowadays unless Gabriel feels like wearing actual clothes instead of reconfiguring his cells to make clothing on his body like the yoga pants and wife beater he was wearing now. Jack was wearing shorts and a thin t-shirt as the yoga instructor gave them instructions for stretches and holds to soothing music. They did yoga together every other day of the week just to help with pain and improve his circulation but Gabriel joined in anyways even though he honestly didn’t get much benefit from it. Jack figured he just liked being able to do an activity with him and actually being part of his schedule in a way. It always made him happy to get on the mats with Gabriel so he could eventually take on Symmetra and Roadhog, oddly enough, in the bi-weekly Twister competition; It kind of sucked to always come in fourth place consistently.

“What?” Jack asked casually as four little Reaperbeans watched him flex quietly from the sideline.

“You know I’m literally death, Jack.” Gabriel seemed to be struggling with his thoughts even though he was getting the poses perfectly and holding them without strain.

“And?” 

“Well, I’ve had many human bodies since the dawn of time itself and sired/gave birth to many children who sometimes went on to be impressive in their own right or had descendants who became so much more than I would ever think capable. Some became scientists, married into a wealthy family and used their position to instigate change for the good or bad, invented things that eventually became important cogs in machines we still use, in some form, today, while others just became humble farmers or foot soldiers who died in the trenches. All of them never knew they were connected to death and it was usually for the best.” Gabriel spoke carefully, always knowing that one small slip might just do something to accidentally fuck up everything they had now in Overwatch in some way, shape, or form. 

Gabriel revealing himself to Jack as being the literal avatar of death was what caused the Zurich explosion to happen, even if it took years for Talon to formulate a plan to get their hands on the Reaper’s avatar. They both thought they were alone when Gabriel whispered the truth so quietly to Jack that even Jack had trouble hearing him say it, much less comprehend it as being the truth until the explosion happened and he thought Gabriel dead for good. Only Winston, Jack, Mercy, and Zenyatta knew of the truth while the rest of the world assumed him an angry, genetically mutated wraith. It, oddly enough, made life easier for Gabriel, especially since Talon inadvertently gave him the tools to always be able to escape any situation with his avatar intact.

“That’s pretty impressive.” Jack complimented him and was a bit perplexed when Gabriel groaned in response.

“Jack. Gabriel Reyes has and will never have his genetics passed down or will be known to history as anything more than a fucking statistic and a shame. No, before you ask, I am not ashamed that I am gay. You drop that shitty logic right now and understand that you’re--! I came back to you for a reason, alright?!” Gabriel huffed as Jack was a bit taken back by that, especially since the beans started to happily cheer ‘Jack!’ in that moment like a bunch of little cheerleaders. “YOU SHUT UP OVER THERE, PEANUT GALLERY!” He yelled as he jabbed a finger accusingly in their direction.”SOME SHITTY LEGACY YOU BUNCH ARE!!”

Jack blinked at that before quickly bringing a hand up to cover his mouth so Gabriel wouldn’t see his shit-eating grin; Gabriel considered the Reaperbeans to be his kids, in a way, and was super embarrassed about that. This was so damn adorable; He couldn’t wait to tell Jesse and Lena.

Wait. Speaking of ‘Jesse’...

“What about McCree?” Jack asked curiously and Gabriel growled before he snapped his head away from him as they both moved fluidly into the next pose when the instructor commanded them.

“What about the ingrate?”

Okay. NOW Jack couldn’t hide his amusement anymore.

“You picked him up at his lowest when he was seventeen, took guardianship of him, and made him into a man worthy of praise, Gabe. Pretty sure he called you ‘dad’ a few times with Lena when you rejoined Overwatch with me.” Jack smugly recalled, making Gabriel snap his head right back to him as he narrowed his eyes at the man.

“He has a fucking bounty on his head, Jack. How the fuck do you expect me to be proud of that?!” He countered.

“Pretty sure Ana and I have bounties on our heads as well. Technically all of us do since we’re breaking the law.” Jack spoke dismissively on that point as he smiled warmly at Gabriel. “I’ve seen you leave extra servings of your meals in the fridge AND you made photocopies of your family cook-”

“OH MY GOD, MORRISON!” Gabriel shouted as he was flustered enough to lose his pose and quickly hide his face in his palms before quickly catching himself to make it seem like he was rubbing his face from exhaustion or something. “Even JUNKRAT knows how to cook without burning the food! I’m doing us all a fucking favor here!” He insisted heavily as he let his arms drop into his lap.

There was a short pause between them as Jack felt his long dormant impulsive nature acting up from how light everything was between them.

“Want to go to the aquarium tomorrow?” He asked with a warm smile on his face. “I managed to win a pair of tickets at the grocery store last week and they expire tomorrow, if I don’t go.”

The beans gasped in excitement and Gabriel immediately bolted upwards to slam his arm on all four of them after he dashed to the side line. Jack tensed up as he watched Gabriel whip around to face him after that.

“Fine! What time?” Gabriel demanded, his face flushed adorably, giving Jack the answer for why he suddenly silenced the beans.

Fucking idiot.


	4. Ever Bean To An Aquarium? (part 1)

The aquarium was more crowded than Gabriel was comfortable with. Maybe Jack wasn’t the only one given a free pair of tickets to but whatever - He wanted to go with him so he would man up and go with him. His form held together rather well with a nanite booster shot from Angela the night before, as much as it pained him to rely on her, but now at least he didn’t breath smoke from his mouth or have any vents open in his skin. 

Jack wore Gabriel’s brown leather jacket, forcing Gabriel to wear a bright blue hoodie since all his other ones were held hostage by the hoodie thief walking right next to him. Both of them wore glasses to see better since their bodies were progressively slowing down from old age and over-reliance on technology to help them keep up with the times. He just might have dragged Jack back to bed for a little more quality time after they both found the addition of glasses to be smoking hot on the other.

Hell, Jack would always be super attractive to Gabe, even when they were both old wrinkly prunes. Would senior homes let them room together even though he was pretty much a sentient nanite cloud?

“Jack!” 

One of the little Reaperbeans that tagged along with them poked its head out from Jack’s collar to get the handsome silver fox’s attention. They were in public but everyone was too busy looking at the fish in the huge tanks to pay attention to a weird toy squeaking to an old geezer. The Reaperbeans would actually look a bit primitive to other toys that looked similar to them - some were even capable of making phone calls!

Jack brought his free hand up to rub the top of the excited bean’s head with his index finger, the other bean snoozing happily against the other side of Jack’s neck. Jack’s other hand was preoccupied with Gabriel’s, their fingers interlaced together as they walked casually together through the breath-takingly beautiful aquarium.

Gabriel came to a halt in front of a massive tank with Jack after the families up front with the little kids got their dose of excitement from the tank and he felt warmth radiating through himself watching the huge fish swim throughout a more, naturally constructed coral reef. His eyes looked at the varieties of name plates for each exotic fish and the beans instantly snapped with a loudish gasp when Gabriel found the one that he wanted to see.

“Pancakes!” The beans happily squealed. “Sea pancakes, Jack!”

Now Jack was startled by the sudden expansion of the beans’ vocabulary and how out-of-place the words were in an aquarium setting. “Wha-... OH! Oooohhhhh!” Jack’s realization hit him as a manta ray went swimming by, triggering a long forgotten memory of one of Jack and Gabe’s first dates when they got out of SEP. “The majestic sea pancake. Such a spectacle that even the grim reaper himself can’t resist calling it by such a cute name!” He recited in a poetic fashion before Gabriel released his hand and hit Jack firmly in the shoulder.

“Don’t be an ass, Jack.” Gabriel smirked in amusement before leaning in close. “Pretty sure you were the one who called them pancakes first so don’t get so big headed.”

Jack laughed happily as he rubbed his arm from the soreness. “Speaking of ‘pancakes’ we should see if they have one of those petting exhibits for the rays.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes at that but had a warm smile on his lips regardless as they both had a nice trip down memory lane with that. “Hopefully the idiots on your neck won’t jump into the tank.” He pointed at the squirmy little beans as they happily squeaked Jack’s name in excitement before sighing dramatically. “I mean, I guess I could absorb them early if you think they will be a hassle…”

Jack protectively brought his hands up to shield the little beans with his hands. “How bout you stop being such a bad influence on them already, Reyes.” He growled in annoyance. Ah, mister papa silver fox protecting the beans, as usual. Gabriel smirked in amusement before looking back at the glass.

In a way, he was lucky if he could live the rest of his mortal life with Jack. The man was literally his ocean and he felt so empty and lifeless without him around. 

“Ha. This fish looks like you, Jackie.” Gabriel remarked in amusement as he pointed to one of the huge, big-lipped fish swimming by in the glass before puckering his own lips in a similar fashion to tease Jack. “Oh wook aht meee!”

“Pfft!” Jack practically had a spit-take at the weird expression and voice Gabriel was using to mock him and quickly snapped to look at the tank to see if there were any other wacky-looking fish he could imitate to mock Gabriel. The beans were blissfully happy and rubbing up against Jack’s neck as he desperately tried to focus on finding a fi- “Found you, Gabe!” Jack poked the glass as a tiny, delicate looking fish swam by it’s fins looking more like a model’s hair than fins, making Gabriel walk right over and press his cheek against Jack as they stood side by side, the Reaperbean squealing as it retreated to the safety of Jack’s opposite shoulder so it would not get absorbed.

“Are you flirting with me, Morrison?” Gabriel asked in amusement as he saw the fish in question. “You calling death beautiful?”

Jack pressed the side of his face back harder against Gabriel’s which resulted in Gabriel meeting his challenge by pushing back. “I’m calling you a non-functional peacock, Reyes!” Jack growled in annoyance, his face flushing from how childish they were both being by trying to crowd each other out while other families watched them.

“How the heck are peacocks non-functional, you dumbass?! Their feathers are meant to attract mates and intimidate predators! Have you ever heard of a peacock losing a fight before?!” Gabriel countered, trying to filter himself while they playfully bickered with each other.

“You want a good-looking and terrifying bird?! Try getting within ten feet of a swan’s nest!”

“Like hell I’m even GOING to a park with a damn swan’s nest in it, and this is coming from ME of all people!” Gabriel laughed, turning his face to kiss Jack on the cheek before pulling away. “Though, I have to admit. I rather like the swan that follows me around.” He smiled in amusement before bringing his hand up to fix up Jack’s hair, an old couple cooing happily as they watched them interact.

Jack’s face was beet red in embarrassment and how slick Gabriel must have seemed to everyone watching their stupid antics. It just happened so naturally when he was with Gabriel that acting dumb with him didn’t feel wrong or out of character for him. Gabriel brought of the young soldier in him - the one who still believed that things could change but wasn’t as naive anymore.

“Jack?” The beans asked him curiously, making Jack smile weakly as Gabriel doubled down on his heart by lightly running his knuckle down the side of his face after being satisfied with how he fixed Jack’s hair.

“Can peacocks and swans even get along?” Jack found himself asking incredulously as he took Gabriel’s hand and walked him away from this tank to the next half of the exhibits - the deep sea tanks.

“If they like each other enough, I guess they could.” Gabriel replied as they approached the first, dark-light tank where the infamous anglerfish swam slowly. “Man, deep-sea creatures have it so rough. Imagine living in such a dark place where your own mother can’t tell how ugly her husband is and then they have yo- OW!” Gabriel cackled as Jack lightly hit him on the head with his fist.

“Watch it, Gabe, or I’m dragging you to reunite you with your family in the sea cucumber tank.” Jack smirked in amusement before leaning forward so he could take a closer look at the anglerfish. 

Gabriel felt his heart swell for this idiot beside him, regardless of how much they ruffed each other’s feathers at times. Only Jack would be the one to help smooth him out once they were done being complete asses to each other. His eyes looked back at the tank and a weird question popped up in his head. “Do you think they ever bite the bait off their little hooks?”

Jack turned to look at him with an incredulous look. “I don’t know, has an angler fish ever died by doing that, o great god of death?”

Now Gabriel was looking over at Jack with a perplexed look. “You think I can witness all death in the world, Jackie?”

“Isn’t that what it means to be the ‘god of death’, Gabe?” Jack asked incredulously.

Gabriel felt his eye twitch in annoyance. “That would be overwhelming for me to comprehend in my mortal body, Jack. I just thought maybe there was a recording on the Internet or something you might have watched at one time or another.” He stated simply.

“Now you think that I have unlimited storage space in my brain to remember some as trivial as that?”

Gabriel stood back up fully and reached into his pocket to pull out his smartphone. “You think this place has free wifi?”

“Oh. You wanted me to look it up on my phone?” Jack asked curiously as he stood back up, hooking his arm around Gabe’s to pull him away from the tank so another family could view the fish while they stood off to the side and no longer blocked off traffic.

“Well, my data for this month is pretty much used up.” Gabriel admitted with a hint of embarrassment.

"Still curious about the world as always, Gabe.” Jack sighed as he took his own phone out of his pocket and unlocked it before handing it over to Gabe. “You’re using wifi when we’re on the base, right?”

Gabriel tucked his own phone back into his pocket before leaning back against the wall with Jack by his side as he pulled up the search engine and started to type in his keywords. “Yeah, but you know how it is when I’m on transportation to missions and such. My mind just suddenly asks questions and I want to know the answers to them. Not even being a god makes you all knowing, after all.” He pauses as the results load on Jack’s phone before looking at him. “When I’m not mortal, I don’t ask myself questions, I don’t think or feel, and retaining anything when I become mortal again is difficult. You lose track of centuries - one minute humans were using stone tools and in your next life they’re fighting wars against their own computerized creations. Is it wrong to always be curious?”

Jack frowned as he placed his hands into the coat pockets and rested his head against Gabriel’s shoulder. “Of course not, Gabe. Curiosity is what makes mortals mortal, you know? Humans will just strive harder to find the answers to our questions and I think it’s honestly great that you have the tools to answer your own curiosities about the world.” He paused as he watched Gabriel pull up another research website. “Any luck, by the way?”

“I don’t think it’s possible for it to draw the rod or the bait on the rod into its mouth. It’s just used to lure prey in close before it strikes to grab them.” Gabriel explains before closing out of the window and handing Jack his phone back. “I guess it would be counter-productive for its rod and bait to get snared when it's trying to grab its prey. Evolution happens for a reason but that’s boring.” He sighs before bringing up a hand to gently pat the side of Jack’s face. “Come on. I bet the sheddings want to look at the deep sea jellyfish if that disco tank is any indicator of their presence.”

“‘Disco tank’?” Jack murmured out loud as he tucked his phone away and walked with Gabriel a few feet away to a giant vertical tank that went from the floor to the ceiling, with several lights rotating in color to create an almost relaxing atmosphere as several hundred palm-sized jellyfish floated up and down the tank from the water current to keep them circulating. “Geez, Grandpa Death. Can you show your age even more?” He teased sarcastically before Gabriel responded in a foreign language that sound even thicker than Pig Latin and more comical to listen to coming from a grouchy fifty-five year-old man’s lips. “Excuse me?" Was all Jack was able to say to that before Gabriel smirked in amusement.

“Exactly, Old Blue.” Gabriel replied in a smug manner before suddenly stopping himself from putting his hand over Jack’s shoulder. The beans were quivering almost cartoonishly as their little masks looked up at the hand that was looming over them and Gabriel rolled his eyes before moving his arm lower to hold Jack’s waist loosely. “Right. Shoulders are off-limits.” He sighed heavily.

“I never said that.” Jack spoke simply.

“Yeah, but you know as well as I do what happens if I even bump a pinky against the sheddings, and I’d rather not ruin our first real date in public in fifteen years by having you strangle me for accidentally absorbing them.” Gabriel looked up at the floating jellies in the tank, letting himself relax to the soothing light show next to his favorite moron in the world.

“It’s not like they won’t come back, Gabe.” Jack shrugged his shoulders casually, making the two beans gasp in horror. He brought his hand up to gently pet their heads to relax them. “Well, maybe not now while you’re very solid at the moment.”

“That’s what he said.” Gabriel snickered immaturely before receiving a swat to his upper back from Jack.

“Behave, Gabe.” Jack warned the mischievous wraith with a smirk before draping his own arm over Gabriel’s shoulder, pressing their sides close together.


	5. Ever Bean to an Aquarium? (part 2)

“Tuxedos!” The beans happily cheered as Jack and Gabe casually walked together, arm in arm, into the penguin exhibit.

Jack smirked knowingly as he looked over at Gabriel, the other man pointedly looked away in embarrassment while the beans continue to squeak ‘tuxedos!’ over and over again. He hated the fucking little bastards so much on this trip but goddamn he missed seeing the flightless birds sliding around on their bellies in the exhibits. 

A bunch of kids and their parents crowded the glass where they could see the penguins zipping around in the water like torpedoes, drawing cooes and gasps in excitement while Jack and Gabe waited in the back for the crowd to disperse a bit before moving in. The beans happily squealed and rubbed excitedly against Jack’s neck, making the old man grin up a storm as he continued to look over at Gabriel, more amused by his conflicted facial expressions than the birds at the moment. 

Gabriel was absolutely rigid as he tried to lean back coolly against the wall like a badass, even with his arm looped with Jack’s. This whole aquarium trip was destroying his whole ‘bad boy’ persona and the fucking sheddings were ruining everything in front of Jack! They really were little abominations that had absolutely no concept of a filter when they wanted to say something!

He unhooked his arms from Jack’s and raised his hand ominously behind Jack’s back, wavering his hands above the beans to make the shriek in fear. Jack casually raised his right arm from his pocket and lightly knocked Gabe’s hand back away from the beans, allowing them to sigh in relief.

“Ever try asking them to cool it instead of bringing out the ‘claw’ every time, Gabe?” Jack asked as he scooted over to press his side against Gabriel’s. 

Gabriel scowled at Jack as he moved his hand to rest on his partner’s waist. “They’re not kids, Jack. Stop act they’re more than just temporary.” His eyes turned to the families at the glass and pointed to them. “Those are kids, Jack.”

“Jesus christ, Gabe, I know what kids look like.” Jack huffed as the beans on his shoulder whined softly to get his attention. He brought a hand up to gently rub their pliable little heads. “These guys are more like cleaner hamsters to me.”

The beans gasped in horror as Gabriel threw his head back as he laughed at the answer. “Jack! Jaaaaccckkk!” The little ones squeaked and complained as Gabriel was keeling over and holding his stomach as he practically cried from the sick burn Jack gave the beans. It was like Jack personally betrayed them or something and even he couldn't help but chuckle at Gabriel's infectious laughter.

“Oh, relax.” Jack spoke playfully to the beans as he and Gabriel approached the penguin tank now that a few of the families left the exhibit. “So overly dramatic.”

Gabriel had mostly recovered by the time they reached the tank, wiping the tears from his eyes as he let out an occasional snort. The guy was having fun making fun of pieces of himself; what a loser he was in love with. Jack placed his hand on Gabriel’s lower back and rested the side of his head against the other man’s shoulders as they watched the penguin slid around on their bellies on the ice while other darted about playfully in the water. Gabriel seemed to relax as well, resting the side of his head against Jack’s while placing a hand around Jack’s waist.

Jack hummed softly in approval from the contact between them, smiling at the squawking noises the penguins made as they played about and thinking about the beans nuzzled up quietly on the opposite side of his neck where Gabriel wasn’t near. It was nice to have the day to themselves and not have to worry about the world or any of their problems. No missions, no arguments, just them and some marine wildlife.

“Is it too early to say that I might want to go out with you more often like this?” Jack asked Gabriel quietly, not wanting to break the comfortable mood between them too much with his question.

“That doesn’t sound like a terrible idea for once.” Gabriel teased lightly, drawing a warm chuckle from the both as Jack felt Gabriel lightly rustle his hair with his cheek. Jack sighed sarcastically as he continued to watch the penguins play in the tank.

“Ass.” Jack grumbled softly, trying to keep his voice down so none of the adults would glare at him for swearing in a family-friendly setting. Gabriel chuckled in amusement before guiding them both away from the penguin exhibit, his hand staying on Jack’s waist as the moved on to the next part of the aquarium.

“You wanna stop for lunch?” Jack asked as they walked by an open area with tables and chairs for families to sit down for a meal, the Gibraltar skylight coming through the windows above beautifully in the resting area.

Gabriel look at Jack with a curious brow raised. “We just got here, Jackie.”

“So?”

“‘So?’, you can’t wait a few more hours?” Gabriel asked incredulously as he rolled his eyes, making Jack scowl lightly at him in return.

“The drive here was long and I spent most of the morning cooking then actually eating, alright?” Jack huffed in annoyance as he slipped the strap of his lunch box off his shoulder and started walking towards the dinning area, Gabriel following him anyways while he tucked his hands back into his hoodie pocket.

The both of them sat down at the table, Gabriel dragging his chair over to the corner where Jack was sitting as he watched curiously as the man placed the lunch box on the table - the two beans taking the opportunity to wiggle down Jack’s arms to sit on the table next to the lunch box. Jack unzipped the flap of the lunch box and pulled out two thermos, placing one in front of Gabriel and the other in front of himself.

“It’s one of those thermos that you can twist in the middle and there’s a compartment for extra liquids or foods. I put green apple slices in yours and water in the top portion.” Jack explained as he twisted the center of his thermos and set down a cup with baby carrots in it, the beans gasping in excitement as he slid it down in front of them. “Two sticks each, alright?” He instructed the little ones as they nodded their heads in understanding and reached into the cup to pull out one baby carrot each to start munching on.

Gabriel rolled his eyes as he removed his container from the bottom of the thermos, setting down both parts on the table as he picked up a green apple slice and popped it into his mouth. “Anything else you brought, Jackie?”

Jack smirked mischievously as he reached into his treasure box to pull out two tinfoil wrapped items, setting one down in front of Gabriel before setting down his own in front of himself. Gabriel narrowed his eyes at Jack suspiciously, not liking that grin on his face after passing him wrapped food since it was an ill omen in his opinion. Suspicion that he quickly tossed aside as Jack unwrapped the foil on his food and revealed that midwest abomination that he called ‘breakfast food’; pancake-wrapped omelets. Gabriel quickly unwrapped his own foil as Jack chuckled in amusement to the wraith’s delight at seeing his long lost favorite Indiana food being freely given to him and took a bite out of the sweet and salty mess that tasted oh so good.

The beans immediately dropped their half eaten carrot sticks and bolted over to Jack as he took a bite from his wrap, instantly begging and pleading for Jack to share the breakfast-y goodness with them.

“Jaaaaaccck!!” They practically sobbed in unison as they looked up at him so pathetically like they weren’t fucking spoiled every day.

Jack rolled his eyes and pulled off a few chunks, setting one chunk in front of each bean so they wouldn’t maul each other by having to share one bigger piece. He had to leave the beans with Lena this morning in order to not spoil the surprise to Gabriel since he couldn’t trust the hivemind of the beans to not share that with him, not when it came to the abomination wrap that Gabriel absolutely hated to love. 

Pretty funny that the god of death’s favorite breakfast dish was something Jack’s mother thought up when she got distracted by Gabriel and Jack’s father arguing about some TV show that she rolled up the scrambled eggs into a pancake instead of a tortilla shell (don’t ask how she didn’t correct herself after the fact, Gabriel just ate it as-is to be polite). Funny how accidents can lead to fun creations that not even a man like Gabriel, who was once a king in one of his past lives, could find to be delicious. Kind of explains why he still likes Jack even after all they’ve been through.

“Marry me, Jack.” Gabriel moaned as he took another bite from the food.

Jack chuckled in amusement as he rolled his eyes at how low Gabriel set the bar for marriage requirements. “Maybe when you stop being a deadbeat dad and help me take care of the sheddings then I’ll consider it.” He grinned smugly as Gabriel shot him an equally amused grin while he took another bite from his pancake disaster.

“What? You don’t want to file our tax returns together?”

Jack had to laugh at that as Gabriel playfully snickered in agreement on how good that one was. “Pretty sure the dead can’t file joint tax returns anyways, Gabe.”

“You just have to go and ruin the mood.” Gabriel commented sarcastically before finishing up his pancake burrito and took a long drink from his thermos. “Classic Morrison.”

“Hey. I could always say ‘no’ next time you ask like that, Gabe.” Jack shrugged his shoulders casually. “I mean, getting stuck with a grouchy wraith for the rest of my life that can’t do a proper proposal? Pfft.”

Now Gabriel was flat out scowling at Jack like he was hurt. “You’re not looking like a spring chicken yourself, Jack.”

Jack frowned at that and finished up the rest of his pancake wrap. “Come on, Gabe. You know that… Well… You and I are like two peas in a pod.” He blurted out, internally cursing himself for that bit. “I don’t want to be apart from you, is what I’m saying.” Jack sheepishly corrected himself as he rubbed the back of his neck. The reaper beans happily went back to munching on their carrots, obvious to the tense moment between the two men or perhaps revealing that Gabriel wasn’t as bothered as Jack assumed he was about the slip up, he really hoped it was the latter. 

Gabriel thankfully just rolled his eyes and laid back in his chair popping another green apple slice into his mouth and munching on it quietly for a few moments before talking. “Feeling is mutual, Jack. Don’t get wound up so much about it, alright?” He reassured him, making Jack perk up a bit in relief. “But… Let’s say someone WANTS to propose to you. How would you want them to go about it?”

Jack face turned beet red and he almost crushed his thermos in his hand from how sudden that question was along with how casually Gabriel asked it. “What?!”

Gabriel propped up his elbow on the table and rest his chin on his palm. “What, you’re not interested?” He asked curiously as he glanced at Jack.

“I just- ! Aren't proposals suppose to be done without the intended party’s input to show that they put thought into it?!” Jack sputtered out. Was this even Gabriel he was talking to?!

“‘Put thought into it’...” Gabriel echoed under his breath as he popped the last apple slice into his mouth before twisting the bottom half of the thermos back to the top half and drinking the rest of the water from it. He then placed his thermos back into the lunch box and sighed happily as he laid back in his chair. “Thanks for the meal, Jackie.”

Jack scowled at the other man for how anti-climatic the conversation ended as he put his own thermos back together, leaving some carrots in the bottom portion for a snack at a later time before putting it into the lunch box and zipping it back up. “You’re welcome, Gabe.”

After tossing their garbage into the appropriate waste bins, the beans resume their spot against Jack’s neck, happily sleeping off their meal as Gabriel held Jack’s hand in his own while they moved on to the next exhibit; the Ray petting exhibit. 

The place was crowded, like Jack guessed it would be, parents holding their kids up and over the edge so they could pet the rays as they swam by after sanitizing their hands with the aquarium staff’s helpers. Jack was a bit surprised that the beans were too tuckered out to engage in the excitement swirling about the exhibit and, just for safety measures, carefully took the beans off his shoulders and tucked them into his coat pockets. The line wasn’t too long though as he and Gabriel waited in the que for their turn to step up, Gabe hyper focused on the tank and trying to peek over the adults’ shoulders to see the tank.

He really hadn’t changed at all since their last visit to an aquarium - Still eager as ever to touch the Rays like an excited kid, something that was very reassuring to Jack, especially after everything that happened between them up to this point. Even as a moody cloud of nanities, he didn’t let it change who he was under that gruff exterior…

Their turn came rather fast as the helpers assisted them in sanitizing their hands and directed them to step up to the tank where there was an open spot for two people to stand. Jack had to resist grabbing his phone and recording Gabriel’s rather quick walk to the opening, looking back at Jack eagerly for him to hurry up. Now that they were in front of the shallow tank that had a beautiful coral environment for the rays to swim about, Jack felt those fond feelings from decades past flair up in his chest watching Gabriel lean forward and let his fingertips brush over the top of the first ray that swam by. 

Gabriel’s smile was captivating as he tried to be gentle with the rays that swam by before looking over at Jack and catching him staring. “Come on, Boy Scout. They aren’t going to bite.” He teased playfully, putting a warm smile on Jack’s face as he too now reached into the tank to feel the rays as they swam by. It really felt like they were just twenty years old again and fresh out of SEP…

Jack and Gabriel were handed paper towels to dry off their hands and given hand sanitizer afterwards before they happily left the exhibit, hands intertwined together with a smile lingering on both of their faces. They enjoyed many more of the exhibits the aquarium had to offer before deciding to call it a day and heading to the gift shop where Jack did his usual anonymous donation to the place by dropping one thousand credits in one go with one of his cards that had a fake name attached to it while Gabriel went walking around the shop.

After he was done with his donation, Jack waited outside of the shop, placing the beans back on either side of his neck now that they were somewhat awake now while Gabriel shopped. Gabriel ended up spending thirty minutes in the place before coming out with at least four huge shopping bags, on containing an oversized, but wrapped gift that was as big as his arms. Jack quirked a brow at the shopping spree Gabriel went on but smartly refrained from addressing it as they walked together to head back out of the aquarium. 

Jack only got to see what Gabriel bought for him when they went back to their room with plenty of noisy ‘gift poachers’, as Gabriel called them, trying to lighten the load in the bags until they were safely behind Jack’s door. Gabriel set down the bag and pulled the bulky, oversized gift out first and handed it to Jack with a smile on his face.

“What’s this now, Gabe? Trying to impress me with gifts?” Jack teased as he started unwrapping the ocean-themed wrapping paper and caught sight of a beautiful dark grey color. Gabriel kept his mouth shut as he sat on the bed next to him while the beans curiously leaned over on Jack’s shoulders to watch him unwrap it.

A giant manta ray pillow/plushie.

“Holy fuck.” Jack laughed happily as he held the huge thing upwards while the beans excitedly squealed ‘pancake!’. He couldn’t entirely wrap his arms around the ray-shaped pillow but held it to his chest as he looked over at Gabriel with a warm smile on his face. “You bought me my own majestic sea pancake, Gabe?”

Gabriel had a smug grin on his face as he picked up the next bag. “Remember how we were both too poor to buy anything the last time we went to an aquarium, Jack? Not so much a problem now.” He chuckled as he pulled out two pajama sets that had a matching sea turtle theme on them and laid them on the bed between them. “Lots of good stuff on sale too.”

Jack sighed incredulously as Gabriel continued to pull out several sets of clothing for their night wear rotation, a small plush penguin (‘for the sheddings’ he claimed), trinkets he planned on passing out to the others, a soft manta ray-themed serape with a hood that even had the tail included on the back (‘for the big idiot who complained about not being able to come with’), and two bracelets with a simple manta ray pendant on them.

“Give me your hand, Jack.” Gabriel asked after he took the packaging off one of the bracelets, slipping the bracelet onto Jack’s wrist before getting to work on removing the packaging on his own while Jack looked at the gift on his wrist.

Jack buried his face into the manta ray pillow, his face hurting from how much he was smiling. Goddamn Gabriel Reyes and his ability to strip him raw anytime whenever he pleased.

“I fucking hate you.”

“Love you too, Jackie.” Gabriel chuckled as he finally managed to slip his own bracelet on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a whole lot of fun to write! Jack is such a nerd for Gabriel being blissfully happy and Gabe is the same in return. 
> 
> The beans loved the fuck out of that penguin plush, btw.


	6. Just bean one of those days

“Jack…?” One of the little beans yawned as it and its three siblings scooted their way into the bathroom.

Jack was laying on the floor, exhausted as all hell from the mission he just got back from, the damp toothbrush on the floor next to him with toothpaste clumped onto the tile below it. He was breathing heavily, his headache so much worse than he was used to dealing with that he blacked out in the middle of brushing his teeth.

“Jack?” The little beans scooted more quickly across the tile surface to get to Jack’s side, one of them going for the toothbrush to upright it before darting over to the other’s sides right in front of Jack’s face. 

He was paler than usual, and caked in a cold sweat as he tried to ease his breathing, eyes weakly opening to see the four concerned beans looking at him. “H-hey…” Jack managed to speak as he shut his eyes again due to the pain in his head.

“J-Jack?!” One of the Reaperbeans scooted forward, absolutely terrified at this point as it crawled up the side of Jack’s face to rub gently at his temple to massage him. The other beans moved forward as well, pressing their cool bodies up against Jack’s forehead to help him relax while they whimpered his name softly.

“Guys… c… ome on…” Jack sighed as he found himself mumbling from how tired he was. If only the pain wasn’t keeping him awake…

Where was Gabriel when he actually needed his inconvenient ass? Maybe he went to bug McCree? Jesse was having the time of his life running about the facility with his manta ray serape and embarrassing the shit out of Gabe… He would have told Jack if he was leaving for a mission, right?

Fucking dickbucket…

“Jack…!” The little one on his temple whimpered softly, making Jack feel guilty as all hell for making them upset. God, he really was a sap and a half…

“Sh… Just… give me a minute…” Jack tried to reassure the beans, keeping his movement to a minimum so he would have to throw up from how nauseous he was. The room was entirely too hot and cold at the same time and he was only wearing his boxers since he just woke up. He felt the comfortable pressure let up just a tiny bit and hear the sound of one of the beans slipping away quickly across the tile floor.

“Die…!? Die…?!” The little bean in the distance was crying out as it made its way out of the bathroom to go find help from Jack.

It didn’t have to go far as it continued to cry out ‘die die die!!!’ as loud as its little voice could get by the door before a black miasma came in front the vents above the door. The bean squeaked in fear, startling the cloud as it stayed by the ceiling to assess the situation as to why the fucking brat was screaming at the top of its lungs at seven in the morning and forcing Athena to page him on his comm unit when he was making him and Jack some good coffee in the kitchen.

“What the hell is wrong? I leave you four alone with Jack for five minutes and-”

“JACK!” It sobbed out to the nanite cloud above him. “JACK!!”

The little bean took off like a doped up caterpillar across the floor while Gabriel was trying to translate the whole situation. His cloud form moved over to the bed to find it empty except for the extremely comfortable manta ray pillow and then quickly made his way over to the bathroom to find the four beans trying to comfort a collapsed Jack.

“Oh, Christ!” Gabriel reformed himself on the tile floor of the bathroom, wearing his aquarium themed PJs as he carefully scooped up Jack into his arms. The beans ended up flopping downwards onto Jack’s stomach, desperately scrambling away from Gabriel as he carried Jack back over to the bed and laid him down. “Athena!”

“Yes, Agent Reyes?” Athena’s voice answered him on his comm unit.

“Get Angela to Morrison’s room! He had another attack!” Gabriel barked, gently rubbing at Jack’s temples like he was instructed to do when Jack had an attack like this, trying to help negate the pain for his partner as the beans climbed onto the pillow to make their way to Jack’s head. They climbed up onto his head and plopped their cool little bodies onto Jack’s forehead while Gabriel tries to keep his arms and hands away from bumping into them.

“Agent Ziegler is on her way, Agent Reyes. I will be unlocking Agent Morrison’s door.”

“I don’t give a fuck. Do what you need to.” Gabriel spat in anger seeing as the AI could have alerted Angela about Jack’s attack rather than calling him in because of a noise complaint. He was going to chew the fuck out of Winston later for this and get the damn AI’s programming updated so Jack’s medical status was higher on the list than a fucking noise complaint about the sheddings!

“Jack…” The little beans whimpered softly, their concern for him mirroring Gabriel’s own as he continued to gently massage Jack’s temples with his fingers.

“He’s fine. Stop worrying so much.” Gabriel grumbled, unable to believe he was stooping so low as to reassure parts of his nanite cloud that Jack Morrison was okay. Fucking idiot just had to be attached to his sheddings…

Angela showed up with Lucio in toe, the younger medic carrying his therapy headphones he, Torbjorn, and Angela came up with to help Jack when his condition acted up. Gabriel stepped aside to let the two get to work while Angela encouraged the beans to stay on Jack’s forehead to act as an anchor for him. The sheddings were still worried but happy to assist the doctor as she went to work on checking his vitals while Lucio tapped on his tablet to get the programs for the headphones started up. 

Fucking idiot must have been neglecting his visits with Angela again if he had a bad attack like this. That or he wasn’t sleeping enough, which always was a problem for both of them, regardless of the extra three hours they were able to get with the new pillow helping them sleep better from how comfortable it was to sleep on. Best damn investment Gabriel made other than the manta ray serape (simply because they could actually wash McCree’s other security blankets if they weren’t physically attached to him).

A quick zip and Lena was right next to Gabriel, holding her fluffy sea turtle slippers in her arms so they wouldn’t get torn when she accelerated to get to Jack’s room. “Is dad okay?” She asked with concern, keeping her voice low as she looked up at Gabriel.

“He had another attack, Lena. Lucio and Ziegler are working on it.” He reassured her as he folded his arms over his chest and lean back against the edge of Jack’s desk. “Probably just needs an injection or two and some music therapy for an hour.”

Lena frowned as she clutched her slippers to her chest. “That’s good to know it wasn’t something really bad, yeah?”

Gabriel looked over at her with some sense of fondness as he unfolded one of his arms to gently pat the back of her chronal accelerator device. “Out of all the things SEP could have fucked up, he got off really easily with this one, Lena.”

She smiled warmly at the touch and nodded her head as she looked back over at the bed where Angela indeed was preparing to inject Jack with something. “I don’t know. Having another ghost dad sounds like a lot of fun.” Lena teased before side stepping Gabriel’s attempt to take one of the slippers from her arms. “Ah Ah!” She snickered, making Gabriel roll his eyes as he tucked his hand back under his arm.

“Cheeky little brats.” Gabriel grumbled lightly under his breath before he heard the sound of spurred boots on metal drawing near and the sight of a familiar cowboy hat trying to peek in through the open door. “Speaking of ‘brats’, number one managed to show up.”

Jesse’s head shot up to spot Gabriel and Lena looking at him and sheepishly twiddled his metal and flesh index fingers together.

Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance and heaved out a heavy sigh before lifting up his foot and pointing to his absence of shoes. Jesse gave Gabriel a thumbs up and slipped of his boots, leaving them outside of the room as he walked over as quietly as he could, still wearing the manta ray serape around him. He moved over to the side of Gabriel that Lena wasn’t on and crossed one leg over the other as he leaned back against the desk with Gabe (Lena was sitting on top of it now).

“Dad okay?” Jesse asked quietly and Gabriel nodded his head as he tucked his hand back under his arm.

“Yep! Angie and Lucio are fixing him up!” Lena replied in a quiet but happy manner, putting a grin on McCree’s face.

“Why Jack tolerates you two I have no idea.” Gabriel grumbled in annoyances, earning him a playful nudge in his side by McCree.

“Don’t be like that, Pa, we love ya too, ya know.” Jesse grinned, making Gabriel roll his eyes but he definitely wasn’t as put-off by it like you would think he would be.

“You dropped my name when you turned eighteen, McCree. I’m not your father.”

Jesse paused at that for a moment before looking over at Gabriel.

“No, I will not adopt you again, McCree, we’ve been over this.”

Now Jesse was flat out pouting while Lena tried to resist snickering but that only turned Gabriel’s gaze to her as she clammed up.

“You? I’ll consider it.”

Jesse gasped at the betrayal while Lena lit up like a Christmas tree at the (joking) offer Gabriel made, the wraith smiling smugly as he knew Jesse was (jokingly) glaring at him from the side. 

Adult children could be so amusing at times. It was times like this that he appreciated the relationship he patched up with McCree and Jack’s bond with Lena basically applying to Gabriel simply because they were forever partners. Gabriel enjoyed the comfort he got from the two beside him as Jack was being cared for - it certainly beat worrying alone for his fucking idiot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, Jack's chronic illness won't kill him. This isn't that kind of fic. 
> 
> Please leave reviews if you enjoy the fic! Also leave plot bunnies!


	7. Bean Heads

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Darth Umbreon is making her own Reaperbean story starting Chibi Kitty Jack and one adorable Bean Bean! make sure you read it! http://archiveofourown.org/works/10533672/chapters/23256627

Jack was wearing Lucio’s headphones as he ignored the squabbling going on between his team mates as they tried to determine who would be the shot caller for the battle simulation. Three little Reaper beans were crowding his collar - one on either side of his neck and one snoozing in the front since he zipped his jacket all the way up so the little bastard had a place to hangout as well. Jack was sitting down with his pulse rifle lying across his lap as he reclined in his chair, arms crossed over his chest, trying to not fall asleep from how relaxed he was listening to the music even though no one would really notice since he had his visor on.

The two beans against his neck were probably enjoying the squabbling between D.VA and Jesse while the third was content to nod off with Jack’s chin resting on its squishy head, not minding the weight at all.

“We’ll let Jack solve this one!”

Jack abruptly sat up straight and taking off the headphones as the snoozing bean under his chin tumbling down into his lap as it squeaked in surprise, the two other beans leaning over safely to watch their sibling in concern. The little bean grunted to roll itself over in Jack’s lap and eventually sat up, turning sharply to glare at Jesse and Hana.

“DIE!!!!” It yelled loudly at them in disgust before turning and craning its head upwards to look at Jack with a content look on its face. “Jack?”

Jack groaned as he looked down at the bean and brought his hand down to affectionately rub its head with his finger. “Okay. What did I miss?” He asked as he looked over at Hana and Jesse, his finger continuing to stroke the happily sighing bean’s head while the beans against his neck practically purred while rubbing up against his tactical turtleneck he wore under his jacket.

Hana folded her arms over her chest as she narrowed her eyes at Jack and the beans. “Shouldn’t they be in your room, 76? You’re not seriously bringing them into a scrim are you?” She asked. “Reaper is going to be on the opposite team and the last thing we need is you getting distracted by making sure the Reaperbeans are in a safe place to not get absorbed.”

“Ya’ll act like Jack never brings the beans to the scrims, Hana.” Jesse defends Jack from his spot back against the wall next to Genji as the cyborg nods in agreement with him. “Gabe just always assumes they’re around Jack anyways and yer just afraid of losin’ this scrim to Lucio anyways.” He added with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

“Hey! I actually got permission from Winston to stream this scrim, thank you very much! We can’t have the beans showing up in the broadcast or trying to crawl into my mech with me again! People are going to ask what they are!” Hana rightly objected, seeing as some of the food expenses at the base were paid out of her stream donations as part of helping to keep the fledgling Overwatch in business. A live scrim would bring in huge amount of viewers than normal, especially if Reaper showed up in the stream footage. It would be easier to explain away Reaper’s powers than several beans shouting Jack’s name and for everyone to ‘die’ while they bugged her.

“That doesn’t stop Gabriel from accidentally shedding during the scrim, Hana.” Jack countered. “Even if it’s less likely to happen while he’s in ‘combat’ it still doesn’t prevent Gabe from subconsciously feeling relaxed in a safer combat environment.”

“That’s why Tracer is on bean patrol duty, 76.” Hana informed him with a confident smile. “Winston and Torbjorn have been collaborating on a device that has the ability to specifically pick up the location of mass quantities of nanites in a small area and today’s scrim will be the perfect test zone for the prototype!”

“Oh. ‘No beans left behind’, huh?” Jesse asked as he tipped the brim up his hat upwards to regard them. “I can get on board with a device that helps track the lil’ sprouts before they start hollerin’ fer Jack at three in the morning on the other side of the base - absolutely terrified that they’re alone.”

Jack tensed up visibly at that, his face hidden behind his visor but Jesse instantly reading him like a book as he put his hands up with concern on his face. 

“Hold on a moment, Dad! Ya’ll know my insomnia is a bit of a bitch at times so I ain’t have no problem goin’ huntin’ fer the little guys when lights are suppose to be out. Some days I don’t find any little lost fellas so it ain’t like yer unintentionally doin’ somethin’ wrong by not lookin’ fer them!” Jesse chuckled reassuringly to Jack. “Everyone pitches in together to make sure the little ones end up safely in their blanket nest outside of yer door so don’t wor-”

“I’m not worried about them, Jesse, I’m worried about you.” Jack remarked, the beans gasping dramatically as they all looked at him, completely hurt. He groaned as he brought his hand to his face, grumbling as the beans kept insistently whimpering ‘Jack’ over and over. Jesse looked startled by that admission, especially when Hana looked over him while cooing ‘awww’ in a teasing manner.

“Look how much your ‘dad’ worries about you not getting eight hours of beauty sleep, McCree.” Hana snickered, Jesse growing more flustered by the minute as he was a mixed bag of both happiness from Jack worrying about him and fucking embarrassed cause he was a thirty-seven year old man being mother henned by a man who wasn’t his father (or even Gabe!).

“S-shut up, Hana!” Jesse retaliated intelligently, jabbing a finger in her direction as Genji was unable to hold his laughter in any longer, resulting in McCree quickly redirecting his embarrassment at his friend and strangled him. “STOP LAUGHING!!” He pleaded, making Jack sigh happily as he tapped a button on his visor to quickly send the video to Gabriel’s phone so he could watch it himself.

To Gabe: ‘Go to 12:45 and hit play.’

Sent.

From Gabe: ‘Tell him I’m disappointed that he’s not wearing the serape I bought him. Also, tell him he’s a disappointment in general.’

Jack snorted at that, glad that no one was paying any bit of attention at him as he went to work at consoling the Reaperbeans before the match would start.

\--

What started as a normal scrim turned into a fucking mess the moment Lena got hit my Reinhardt’s firestrike when she tried to scoop a little bean that had wandered out into the line of fire. Accidents happen but no one expected everyone to flip their shit, especially poor Reinhardt as he held the dazed runner in his arms and couldn't stop apologizing enough for hurting her while Jack had to deal with the two Reaperbeans that were sobbing in his arms after he collected them from Lena’s bag. The other three were dropped into Gabriel's form earlier before the match started so these two little ones had to be the most recent sheddings from Gabriel and Rein trying to flank him and Jesse. There was no sight of Gabriel, even after the Reaperbean’s cry lured Jack out of hiding (godfuckingdamnthesebeans) and he found poor Reinhardt sobbing along with the little ones.

The simulation chamber was roughly it's own building with two massive floors and walls/stairs that could be changed to better simulate different environmental set ups along with a hyper-advanced/realistic holo technology that honestly made the room seem endless for the environment it was simulating. Athena could even make it rain and simulate actual fires for burning building scenarios! 

“Jack! Jaaaaaaack!” The two beans whined, their little masks twisting to show how stressed out they were, even when they were situated in Jack’s arms with him gently rubbing their heads with his bare hand. His glove and pulse rifle were down on the ground next to him as he tried to console them to the best of his abilities.

“Shh. Shh. It’s alright. I’m right here.” He murmured down to them, wondering why his voice wasn't bringing them much comfort until one of them squirmed in his arm to turn around and look at Lena. 

“Die…?” It asked in an almost heartbreaking manner that made Jack smile fondly under his mask in response. Poor thing was worried about Lena more so than getting comforted by Jack.

“Now, now, Lena is just a bit… winded right now, but, I’m sure she’ll be right back on her feet in no time.” Jack spoke reassuringly to the beans, the little one that had been looking in her direction turned right back around to crane its mask upwards with its sibling to look at him. Their little eye holes were wide open at that before relaxing visibly as they both sighed softly in relief.

There was no way Gabriel was going to be able to deny his fondness for Lena to his face if the beans were worried over her when she wasn't visibly hurt. 

Anyways. Time to get everyone on the same page and suspend the battle simulation cause clearly Angela needed to make sure Lena was okay and he needed to get the little beans deposited back into the biggest bean they had. Jack brought his hand up to dial into the ‘all’ chat on the comm line and tapped a button on his commlink to alert everyone, with an alarm, to tap into the channel for a moment. He waited until several clicks signified several people hopping into the channel, some more concerned than others at the sudden alarm that Jack set off.

“Before anyone panics, we just need Angela come down to sector two on the simulator floor and pause the sim for a bit. Lena took a firestrike by accident and Rein is… well, I think he’s more stressed out then Lena is at the moment.” Jack chuckled in amusement to highlight that no one was in any immediate danger as he heard Angela sigh on her end. “Also, I need Reyes as well.” He added, trying not to snicker as he heard an annoyed and very familiar growl in the chat.

“The hell do you need me for, Jack?” Came Gabriel's gruff reply.

“Do you really need to ask? Stop sulking because you have to give up your ambush perch, Asshole.” Jack shot back at the attitude he was given before he heard Gabe land on the ground nearby, the angry wraith very much annoyed that he had to be tugged out of cover to pick up his sheddings.

“This is bullshit, Morrison, and you know it.” Gabriel huffed at being sabotaged so easily as Jack got up from the ground and walked over to him, the two sniffling beans in his arms. He looked down at the sheddings and Jack could tell Gabe was quirking a brow at them from under his mask before looking up at Jack. “Weren’t they just screaming a minute ago?”

“That’s kind of why I’m holding them, Gabe.” Jack deadpanned, watching as his partner tensed slightly at that and then felt himself grin mischievously under his visor. “What works on the big beanhead usually applies to the little ones.” He teased playfully as Gabriel cringed.

“That’s a goddamn lie if I ever heard one, Morrison! I’m breaking up with you!” Gabriel huffed haughtily as he turned away for Jack but didn’t flee, making it obvious that he was fooling around as well.

“No, you’re not.” Jack felt himself grin from ear to ear as he gently placed the content beans on Gabriel’s shoulders and watched them slip back into the leather of his jacket.

“H-hey!” Gabriel snapped back to face Jack as he madly patted at his shoulder padding. “Don’t just drop them in me without warning, Dickbucket!”

“Pa, are you and Dad havin’ a lover’s spat?” McCree added with a snicker, leaning against one of the prop buildings as the room became completely white when Athena dropped the holograms.

Jack chuckled as he stepped forward and draped his arms over Gabriel’s back almost lazily while hugging the very confused wraith. “He’s just being a bean dip, Jess. Nothing out of the usual here.”

Gabriel sputtered at that and wraithed out of Jack’s arms while Jesse was wheezing hard as his father figure ran off in embarrassment. Some things never change with Gabriel but the best part was that he always came ghosting right back to Jack’s side no matter what stupid shit he said.

The biggest Reaperbean of them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love these stories so much. I hope you're enjoying them as well!


	8. Bean Burritos

Jesse McCree and Lena Oxton were sitting with a Reaperbean each in their laps, the little ones munching on a fry they ‘snuck’ them while Jack was busy setting up seagull traps on the roof in front of them. The beans were severely lacking in their usual playful energy, taking a much longer time to nimble down the fries they were working. It was why they were on the roof with Jack and keeping them entertained since the alternative was listening to their heartbreakingly weak cries of ‘Jack’ while the man worked on trying to fix the problem at hand.

The problem? Gabriel was bedridden from not eating souls for a week.

Jack was positively furious at his partner withholding this information from him and even moreso that he didn’t try to go looking for wild animals to devour when he was well enough to do so.

The biggest bean had to be the shittest one to be around, at times.

“Have you two checked the traps this morning?” Jack asks as he lays out the cage, it looking more like a giant, plastic, half-circle until he set it down on the ground and easily parted the center so that the shelled half folded on either side with the clear plastic cover exposed on the bottom. Jack made sure it wouldn't snap shut prematurely before reaching for the plastic bag he had in one of his pouches on his belt that had a defrosted hamburger in it, bun and all.

Jesse visibly gagged, clutching the little bean to his chest accidentally and making it let out a whine. Jack immediately snapped a glare in Jesse’s direction as Jesse was cooing softly to the miserable Reaperbean and pressing reassuring kisses to its head, less because Morrison was pissed at him and more because he was genuinely upset at hurting the bean. “It’s okay, Partner. Shhhh.” He spoke sweetly. “I’ll give ya a free pass to tell me to die, alright?”

The bean whined softly as it buried its face into McCree’s shoulder when he held it gently against himself. The bean in Lena’s lap wasn't in any better shape with how deflated and sickly it seemed. Murmuring Jack’s name as Lena took off her jacket to wrap it up like a burrito and gently run her fingers over its forehead. Lena looked up at Jack as she frowned.

“I checked the traps and it had one of the colony cats in it. I let it go because Goth Dad would probably pitch a fit if I brought it to him.” She admitted sadly. “That was an hour ago but I can check them again if you like?” Lena asked as she sat up, completely hyped up for action if it would help Gabriel in any way.

Jack pulled a large portion of the burger apart in the bag and delicately set it on the trigger before stepping away from the trap, eyeing the assholes in the sky even without his visor on. He moved on to set up the next trap and bait it before turning back towards Lena, eyeing the little bit of burger he still had in the bag. “Yeah, be sure to get more bait from Reinhardt if you need more for them.” Jack spoke as he walked over to where the two of them were sitting, wiping his hand off on his pants leg as Lena stood up and offered him the wrapped up ‘bean burrito’, his mind tagged the sight as. He took the bean and coat combo carefully, taking Lena’s spot by Jesse as the Brit saluted him and zipped off with her new orders.

The bean groaned weakly as Jack got situated, setting it gently down in his lap while he fumbled with the burger to split the remaining piece in half. Jack passed the bag with the other portion to Jesse before turning the bean burrito on his lap so it was looking up at him. The normally bright and alert Reaperbeans were so limp and miserable with their eye sockets almost completely closed. It was like watching an energetic child being stuck being hospitalized and god knows Jack has seen enough of that heartbreaking shit when he was Strike Commander to be forced to see the beans suffer through it along with Gabriel.

“J… Jack?” The bean wheezed softly, visibly upsetting Jack as he tried not to cry from how much this was wrecking him.

“Yep. Good job on getting it right, Little Guy.” Jack smiled as he held the bit of burger in front of the bean. “You get a nice reward for being so strong. Smells good, right?” 

The bean mouth made attempts to nipple slowly on the treat with Jack’s encouragement, Jesse following along with the bean he was feeding. It made Jack feel like absolute shit that he let Gabriel just neglect himself like that. Angela and Lucio were working on keeping Gabe’s nanites stable in the medbay but at least it wasn't critical condition like Jack originally feared that morning.

Gabriel woke him up because he couldn't move. He waited until he was literally immobilized and unable to shift into his wraith form to tell Jack anything. Jack literally sprinted ten laps around the compound after alerting Angela and helping her transport Gabriel just to work off how fucking pissed off he was at his lover. He became even more mad at the fucking goth idiot when Hana ran over to him in her PJs with two beans she found in the hallway. They literally looked like they were dying and that was positively unacceptable, especially because Hana was crying and he had never seen hear that upset over something before.

He was going to throw Gabriel off the cliff when he was back to full strength again. Maybe some cold water will wake that asshole up if this whole incident didn't.

A loud snap and several cries of seagulls flying off frantically in the air caught Jack’s attention, Jesse having Peacekeeper out and ready to fire before he realized it was just the bird trap that made the noise. Jack passed his bean burrito to Jesse after he put Peacekeeper back into its holster with a sheepish chuckle and got up to head out to the furthest trap that was being tossed back and forth from the gull thrashing inside of it. 

The first offering had presented itself.

Jack picked it up and held it tightly under his arm as Jesse stayed put on the roof with the two Reaperbeans to watch the last bird trap. Lena would be back shortly with her report on the animal traps around the compound grounds and he had a bird to shove down Gabriel's ungrateful throat.

\--

“...No.” Gabriel weakly huffed as Jack presented the plastic half circle with a very pissed off sea gull screaming inside of it.

“Tough. You don't get a choice of what souls you get to eat, Asswagon.” Jack ordered as he kneeled down on the ground with the trap, Angela and Lucio backing away from the bed as they looked uncertain about Jack’s plan.

“Uh. You’re not going to just open that in the medbay, right?” Lucio asked since Angela hesitation turned to agitation as she went into her office and bring out her pistol.

“If zat bird flies, Jack, then it dies. I will not tolerate a wild animal destroying and contaminating the medical bay.” Angela spoke firmly, making Lucio even more nervous about this whole thing as Jack started taking off his coat and laid it over the top of the closed trap.

“I’m not touching it, Ziegler, so, enjoy your free side arm training.” Gabriel made sure to let everyone know about how he felt about the whole thing before Jack reached under his jacket, keeping one hand over the top before starting to pry the thing open.

Jack’s hand darted in through the opening with his jacket grabbing the screaming bird by its damn throat and pulled it out of the trap with ease. Using his knee to pin down the flailing bird’s body under his jacket, Jack restrained its legs between his fingers to keep it from kicking and tucked the bird under his arm to pin its wings in place. Jack was glad that he was wearing his reinforced gloves because snapping that banshee’s beak shut probably would have made him lose a finger from how much it bit his hand. With the fucker finally restrained and forcibly gagged, Jack carefully stood up and moved over to the side of Gabriel's bedside.

“No.” Gabriel firmly declined again, his face looking even more pale than it usually was and barely able to scoot away on the bed as Jack forcefully sat down on the bed next to the wraith, absolutely infuriated at this point.

“Put your fucking hand on the damned bird already, Reyes, you’re driving my patience here.” Jack demanded.

“Is this cause of the sheddings, Jack?” Gabriel glared up weakly at his partner in defiance. “Just drop the damn things back in and let me sleep in peace!”

Jack practically flopped on top of Gabriel, the bird flailing from being squashed between two bodies as it fought for its life vainly in Jack’s vice grip. Gabriel could try to put up a strong front but his body was siphoning off the bird’s life energy almost instantly without the man’s hand coming into contact with the bird. Even Jack was starting to gasp for breath as Gabriel wheezed, unable to do anything in his weakened state but grasp Jack’s coat for dear life. The bird lost in the end, turning to a pile of ash on top of Gabriel, allowing the wraith enough energy to shove Jack off him, and sit up as he panted.

“W-What the fuck, Jackie?!” Gabriel demanded with a snarl as Lucio helped Jack sit up on the floor. “I can’t believe- I could have killed you, Fuckwit!”

“I’m sorry!” Jack breathed as he rested the back of his head against Lucio’s shoulder while Angela scrambled over with her staff.

“Christ, Jack. Do you have no regard for your life?!” Angela glared at him as she bathed his body in a gold aura to help ease the pain and fatigue of his stamina being sapped into.

“Reckless is one thing but that was going a bit too far to make him touch the bird, Seventy-Six.” Lucio chastised him softly as he gently ran his hand over Jack’s forehead to wipe the accumulating sweat off it.

“Okay, I get it!” Jack sighed in concession as he looked up at Gabriel, very relieved to be able to see his lover sitting up and scowling down at him. “I’m just a bit winded, Gabe. Honestly.” He reassured him, watching as Gabriel rolled his eyes at that explanation.

The wraith’s shoulder’s relaxed a bit as he let out a sigh of his own. “I know, Sunshine. Your soul is glowing as brightly as ever regardless of how much of dumb prick you are.” He grumbled as he ran a hand through his curly, salt and pepper locks. 

Jack smiled as he felt his strength returning to him with his nature second wind and Angela’s staff reinvigorating him. “You call me ‘sunshine’ but you’re the one who puts light into my life, Gabe.” He chuckled in amusement, watching Gabriel look back at him with a smirk growing on his lips.

“That’s terrible, Jack.”

“At least you’re well enough to call me out on it now.”

Gabriel frowned as he thought about it for a moment before looking back at Jack. “Might need one more bird or something.” He held up his hand and showed the black smoke drifting off the tips. “Should be able to get out of bed then. Sorry to be a burden on you all.” He added, regarding Angela and Lucio as well this time. 

Angela scowled as she clicked off her staff and stood up, walking over to the bed as her heels echoed off the tile floor. “As your doctor and friend, Gabriel, it is important that we all be on the same page when it comes to your health. If you require assistance collecting wildlife to replenish your nanites then please come to us sooner than later so we can avoid this kind of crisis.” She spoke as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Even if you only feel comfortable enough to inform Jack then I will still feel at ease knowing that you trust someone enough to confide about your current health needs. The state of your nanites is chaotic enough as it is and I want you to be able to enjoy life rather than be stuck in a bed all day due to being stubborn.”

Gabriel huffed at that but nodded his head all the same as he glanced over at Jack for a moment before looking back at her. “Fine.”

Angela smiled in a satisfied manner as she turned around while Lucio helped Jack to sit in one of the folding chairs Angela brought over from the wall. “Now that we have this all settled. I’ll go bring some electrolytes and a protein bar for our unintended donor.” She snickered in amusement as she walked out the door and back into the med bay while Jack sighed at the ‘joke’.

“I guess I better get the trash bin to clean up the ash.” Lucio sighed as he walked out of the room as well while Gabriel was busy brushing the ash off of himself before picking up Jack’s coat to start shaking it out as well.

“Stop making more of a mess for the others to clean up, Gabe.” Jack demanded as he snatched his jacket out of the wraith’s hands. A bunch of white feathers drifted down to the floor from the movement, making Gabriel look at Jack with a smug grin on his face.

“‘Making a mess for others’ am I?”

Jack scowled at him in response before looking at the inside of his coat and finding blood stains from the bird’s struggle in it. “Urgh…”

“That looks like it will be a pain to clean off.” Gabriel frowned sympathetically when Jack show him the slightly bloody interior of his jacket.

“Dry cleaning bill will be a fucking mint when this day is over.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes at that. “Just burrito the next bird or whatever with one of the older med bay blankets, Jack. It’s not rocket science.” He shrugged.

“Certainly feels like it when any situation involves you.”

“Rude.”

Jack cracked a smile at that and Gabriel returned a knowing one as well.

“Jack!”

Jack turned as he watched Jesse walk in with two happy beans wrapped up in Lena’s coat while Lena carried the huge seagull trap in her arms. Gabriel and Jack raised a questionable brow in McCree’s direction and the cowboy quickly tensed up before Lena came over to the bed to set the thrashing half circle down on the floor.

“Don’t be mad at him, Dads. The beans looked so cute all snuggled up against Jesse’s chest that I couldn’t bear to ask him to carry the trap for me!” Lena chuckled happily as she stomped her foot down onto the seagull trap to keep it from moving about on the floor with ease. “I’ve wrestled with worse, you know.” She added with a smug grin on her face as Jesse walked over to join her.

“Jack! Jack!” The beans excitedly called for him as Jack couldn’t resist the urge to smile and reach up for them when Jesse transferred the two bean burrito to his arms.

“Looks like you both are doing much better.” Jack found himself chuckling in an adoring manner as the little white masks looked up at him with their eyes closed in contentment.

“Alright, McCree. Time to do some work.” Gabriel clapped his hands together to draw the cowboy’s attention over to himself. “Grab an old blanket Angela doesn’t mind getting ruined and get ready to prove your cowboy credibility: You’re on seagull restraining duty.”

Jesse blinked at him in confusion before looking down at the closed trap under Lena’s foot. “Seriously?”

“Go!” Gabriel barked, making the cowboy huff in annoyance as he turned to walk out of the room to fulfill his order.

All in all, everything worked out just fine as Jack and Gabriel were giving Jesse instructions on how to restrain the bird as it flailed about under the blanket when he got the trap open. Angela had her pistol ready but Jesse eventually got everything under control to allow Gabriel to turn the screeching bird into ash and the wraith was well enough to assist in the clean up of the room while Jack was told to stay sitting with the beans while they were still content. Gabriel then let Jack put the beans back on him to let them be reabsorbed into his body and go into the dining hall with the others to eat with Reinhardt as he finished cooking up the rest of the hamburger meat for a well deserved lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The inspiration for using wild animals to refill Gabe's soul/energy was from the awesome R76 fic, 'A Ghostly Tango'!
> 
> Please leave a review if you liked the chapter or not!


	9. Morning of The Living Bean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A very short story featuring the bad beans being dicks.
> 
> **Warning***
> 
> Contains a rat getting killed and devoured by the bad beans. No gore or blood is involved but I did use the description 'torn apart'. If this makes you squeamish then please feel free to skip the chapter. I want you to have a good experience over forcing yourself to read content you might not like. Sometimes the beans can't always be wholesome.

A rare, wonderful night of sleep was abruptly interrupted by the loud, high pitched shrieking coming from behind the bathroom door. Jack shoot up in bed, eyes wide as he raised his 9mm he kept on him at all times while he looked for the enemy lurking in the darkness of his room. When no shadows moved from their place, Jack realized where the screaming was coming from and bolted from the bed, causing the blankets and the two reaper beans that were sleeping peacefully beside him to tumble into a pile on the floor. They were obviously upset and hissing ‘die!’ at him as they struggled under the sheets but Jack had a bigger pressing issue when the scream from the bathroom cried out once more.

“JACK! JACK!!!” The bean pleaded behind the door as Jack scrambled over to it. 

Objects of differing degrees of fragility getting toppled over and onto the floor of the bathroom, making Jack panic as he got the door open to see what the hell the asshole beans banished here were causing. He quickly flipped the light switch on and groaned as he looked at what the four rampaging bean brains were getting up to that would be enough to make one of them shrieking like a banshee this early in the morning. The food and water bowl, intended for a medium-sized dog, were turned over with water trailed all over the floor from the puddle by the water bowl, shampoo and conditioner bottles knocked down and a gritty hole chewed threw the plastic to leave the contents also tracked all over the place, and then there was the fact that the air vent was hanging by one screw on the ceiling with a very much dead rat on the floor being devoured by two beans that hadn't noticed Jack’s arrival.

Jack lowered his 9mm in one hand and brought a hand up to rub at his temples in frustration. Damn rat picked the worst vent to fall through and cause chaos in, likely surviving the fall but was eventually cornered and killed by the beans. It was a gruesome sight to behold but luckily there was no gore from the way the nanites in the beans broke down the carcass of the rather sizeable rat neatly.

“Jack!” The little bean that was making a racket earlier pleaded up to him by his feet, making Jack roll his eyes before looking down at it. “Jack! Jack!!”

“Shhh! Quiet down, Shitstick.” He groaned, trying to summon up as much patience as he could manage with these assholes since Gabriel was out on a mission while Jack had to hold the fort. Basically forcing him to put up with his sheddings and their attitudes when they were rotten more so than sweet. It was why he set up a ‘bean prison’ in the bathroom to toss the misbehaving ones into when they got unbearably rotten. “What’s wrong?” He finally asked with a heavy sigh, watching as the visibly upset bean tearfully pointed with a nub in the direction of where it’s siblings were…

Jack looked over at the duo munching down on the rat and the fourth little bean hovering nearby nervously. It scootched itself close, wanting to go around and probably eat from the opposite side of the other two but they immediately pulled off the corpse and hissed aggressively, and scared the bean away from their bounty like the dicks they were.

The bean at Jack’s feet let out a long whine at the clear lack of sharing that was going on around the disgusting corpse and Jack was very much annoyed that it screamed bloody murder over something so petty. Hell, he was entirely done with these misbehaving assholes even before this mess with the rat happened and now was both disgusted AND furious at them!

He turned on his heels back into the room after letting the door close on the confused bean that was sitting there and waiting for his answer on the issue. Jack turned on the lights in the room, clearly not bothering the dozing beans that were under the blankets on the floor by the bed as he went out in the hall to get a garbage bag, cleaning spray, paper towels and latex gloves from the hallway closet. He was a man on a mission and didn't say anything as he closed the door behind him to his room and heard a shouting match coming from behind the bathroom door. 

He almost vomited as he walked into the bathroom, the beans now fighting over TWO PART of the rat corpse and screaming ‘die!’ at each other while, probably playing tug of war with it until it split apart. Jack resisted puking and stomped into the chaos of the bathroom, grabbing bean after bean and chucking them into the shower. Their bodies squeaked like dog chew toys as they landed, piling onto the other by Jack’s tosses until he slid the door closed, recently having one installed for this very purpose to keep the little shits corralled when they act up. 

“DIE!!” They hissed in protest from being dragged away from their kill that they earned. “DIE! JACK! DIE DIE!!”

“You think I give a fuck?! You’re all repulsive dirtbags that fought over a corpse when you had apple slices in your bowl!” Jack shouted back as he snapped on the gloves in a surgical manner and quickly disposed of the pieces of the rat along with the apple slices scattered on the floor. Clearly a treat they did not deserve to have after dining on a rat to entertain themselves along with their shampoo and conditioner bottles. With the debris disposed of along with the bottles, Jack tied up the bag tightly and tossed it out of the bathroom to start wiping down the place to sanitize it.

It took him a grand total of twenty minutes of scrubbing and spraying to get the place into a decent state all while the enraged beans in ‘solitary confinement’ spat their usual limited vocabulary at him. To Jack it was just background noise at this point as he hummed a tune to both block out and annoy the beans. He even left them in there after he finished cleaning up the place and went to return the items to closet before throwing out the trash. 

Jack then went back to his room and groaned as he squatted down by the blanket pile on the floor by his bed. He gently peeled back the layers to find the two dazed beans turning lazily to look up with their little white masks, the eye holes horizontal lines as they squinted. They didn't deserve his frustration with the others in the bathroom and he couldn't help but smile as one of them yawned.

“Jack…?” One of them asked sleepily.

“Sorry bout earlier. You guys want some breakfast for being good little beans?” He asked, unable to stop grinning as their eye holes stretched back into little black circles and gasped in delight. One of them even struggled to get off its back to upright itself, grunting adorably as it exerted itself until Jack’s hand came down with the assist. 

Jack scooped up both of the beans and gently placed them on his shoulders, one on each side before going to slip his shoes on. He was in his pyjamas since it had been cold lately and the beans were excited as they squished themselves up against his neck to hug him. 

“Jack! Jack!”

“Yes, yes, I know what my name is.” He chuckled as he walked over to the door, bringing his hand up to poke their cheeks before opening the door to the hallway and closing it behind him. The assholes left to think on their actions for a bit while the good beans got to indulge in a huge pancake just for them to eat. 

He did bring the jerks orange slices that Lena didn't want to finish though so it's not like he neglected them entirely.


	10. a mess in the mess hall

Gabriel narrowed his eyes as he sat at in the mess hall alone at four in the morning. He was exhausted and desperate for some decent shut eye but the two assholes sitting on the table insisted he do something other than lay in bed like a normal person.

“... Jack?” One of the sheddings asked, looking to Gabriel for reassurance as the wraith just rolled his eyes.

Figures, the two ‘best behaving beans’ would miss Jack enough to the point where they were literally following him around the base like ducklings but had the sense to keep quiet as to not prompt him to absorb them. Jack liked to pretend that he didn’t get attached to the sheddings but Gabriel could tell that these two ‘reaper beans’ were almost four months old, a rather long length of time for Jack, or anyone else in the base, to put up with any particular shedding before they would be reintegrated back into his form. Gabriel’s significant other was particularly skittish of leaving those two in any of Gabriel’s blind spots and tried his best to downplay his attachment to them to the best of his ability. 

It was the only reason he allowed this little retreat into the mess hall after roping in Jesse to carry the little shitheads for him. Why the cowboy was still up was a bit concerning but he wasn’t going to intervene if it didn’t affect his performance on the field. They all had their own demons, after all. 

“Jack’s fine.” Gabriel grumbled quietly as he peeled off the plastic seal on the fruit cup and took off the cap, laying it upside down. 

The sheddings looked even more depressed by that answer as they turned their little gazes down towards the table. It was embarrassing having his little concerns over Jack being out on a mission being so openly displayed on the expressive sheddings. Most of the team remaining at the base seemed almost too concerned about how he was feeling with Jack’s favorites being so tired and uninterested in what was going on around them.

They even ignored treats and toys from Reinhardt’s special stash, they were THAT cut up about Jack not being around when Gabriel wasn’t that much more stressed out about it than usual. 

Gabriel plucked a grape out of the cup and pulled it in half, laying each piece on the lid in front of the respective bean before taking out a grape for himself to pop into his mouth. He folded his arms up inside of the front pocket of his hoodie, leaning back in his chair, and propping his legs up on the unused chair under the table. The sheddings reluctantly followed Gabriel’s prompt and munched slowly on the grape halves even though they could swallow whole grapes with ease since they couldn’t choke.

“Seriously, he’s going to come back in a few days. Stop acting like Jack abandoned you.” He growled quietly in annoyance before pulling out his phone from his hoodie pocket and unlocking it, sitting back up in his chair as the beans sniffled. Gabriel then turned his phone around and unlocked the phone’s case to allow it to be propped up on the table in front of the two wimps. They looked at the screen in confusion until Gabriel leaned over to tap the play button on the enlarged video before leaning back in his chair once more as the video started.

Jack was sitting in a bare bones room in the dark with a small flashlight illuminating his figure somewhere off screen. He looked tired as all hell but put on a brave smile to reassure the viewer after realizing the recording started. The sheddings gasped in synch and let out a happy ‘Jack!!’ as they wiggled their way around the fruit cup lid to crowd the screen.

“Hey…” Jack starts off bashfully before bringing a hand up and clearing his throat to get his thoughts together, clearly embarrassed about doing this recording. “Well… I really hope you show the sheddings this video, Gabe, cause it’s five in the morning here and…” He looks off nervously to the side and falls silent for a moment before looking back over to the phone. “I swear if I get caught doing this they will never let me live it down…” Jack grumbled, Gabriel huffed haughtily at that since everyone knew how weak Jack was for his two favorite sheddings at the base. 

“Anyways, I know I will be gone for a little while and it’s a big adjustment with not having me around all the time to keep you two happy. Just know that Jesse and Lena will be spoiling the hell out of you guys in my place and that it’s okay to feel sad or anxious when someone you love goes away for a bit. I’m not going to say anything that will jinx myself cause that’s batshit stupid, so, just know that you two are very much loved.” Jack remarked in a slightly embarrassed manner. “Also, be nice to Gabe. I won’t be mad at all if he absorbs either of you two for being brats while I’m away. Got it?”

The beans shrieked and hid behind the fruit cup as they peeked out at the phone before turning their gaze up to Gabriel with little tears in the corners of their eyes. Gabriel brought a hand to his face at that and dragged it down as he groaned. Fucking figures Jack put a warning like that to keep them in line but seriously?!

“It was a warning, You Two!” Gabriel emphasized before picking up his phone and putting on cute cat videos for the beans to watch as they continued to tremble behind the fruit cup. He turned the phone screen towards the beans and leaned back in his chair as he tucked his hands into his front hoodie pocket in annoyance. “Fucking Morrison and his shitty sense of timing. Just when they finally perk up he has to go all ‘behave or die’ on them.” He grumbled under his breath as he rolled his eyes.

“Jesus, Gabe. What’d ya say t’scare them like that?” Jesse drawled as he pulled up a chair across from Gabriel, the little beans squirming their way over to Jesse while letting out little whines.

“Wasn’t me for once.” Gabriel deadpanned as he kicked his plush sea lion slippers up onto the table.

Jesse mouthed an ‘oh’ before he scooped up the little ones and placed one on either side of his neck before pulling up his manta ray serape hood. “I thought I heard Jack’s voice before comin’ in here. Ya’ll have a video chat or somethin’?” He asked as he reached over to pull the fruit cup to his side of the table and pulled out a green apple slice to split in half, feeding one half to each bean snuggling up to his neck. He then plucked out a strawberry half before pushing the container back over to Gabriel, letting him take a grape out to pop into his mouth.

“Nah. Jack just recorded a little vid for the sheddings and he ruined his own video by threatening to shove them back into me if they misbehave before signing off.” 

Jesse looked at Gabriel with an incredulous stare. “Are ya fuckin’ serious?”

Gabriel shrugged his shoulders casually at that. “It’s Jack. What do you expect?”

“I expect a lil’ more compassion than ‘overbearing dad’, to be honest.” He remarked as he brought a finger up to gently rub the bean on his left shoulder that still trembled quietly. “Shh… Yer okay, Darlin’. I’ll let ya and yer siblin’ sleep in my hat t’night to keep the Reaper at bay, alright?” He reassured the little one, making Gabriel roll his eyes at that as he plucked out another apple slice to eat before pushing the cup back over to Jesse’s side of the table.

“The bull shit I have to put up with…” Gabriel sighed before taking his phone and swiping off the video app to conserve power. He then got up with a groan and pushed the lid of the fruit cup over to Jesse before pushing in his chair.

Jesse watched Gabriel move to leave the mess hall with some confusion. “Ya done already?”

“Yep. Bonding time with the sheddings is done.” Gabriel waved as he walked out of the mess hall.

He wasn’t going to be the one to keep the sheddings in line and always play the ‘bad dad’. Gabriel had other things to do than coddle things that others were more eager to do in his stead. It was only because Jack insisted that he show them the video if they got sad that he even did this at all. Jack owed him big time when he got back and he had ever intention of shoving the beans into the bathroom to get some quality one-on-one time with his favorite soft idiot in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> If you wanna read a really good and angsty Reaperbean story then please check out 'The One You Feed' (http://archiveofourown.org/works/8895826)


End file.
